Pages

Friday, 26 February 2016

Having examined the past and current versions of Helena Wayne, it's clear that both characters are progressive in their own way with room for improvement. Having examined the different variables of character development, it's clear that the pre-Crisis Helena Wayne was the most progressive on this front.

Wednesday, 24 February 2016

The Bronze Age was one of the more progressive eras of DC Comics. In addition to pushing for more sophisticated storytelling and racial diversity, DC was also advocating for more female visibility at that time. The creation of Helena Wayne pre-Crisis fell into the latter initiative.

Saturday, 20 February 2016

Throughout the Bronze Age, there was a sense of family amongst the Justice League and Justice Society heroes, creating strong unity between them. Staying true to form, the pre-Crisis Helena Wayne valued nothing more than family, which comprised not only of her immediate family, but also of her friends in the Justice Society, and even the Earth-1 counterpart of her father.

Thursday, 18 February 2016

DC Comics announced today the titles they have slated for their Rebirth relaunch later this year, and amongst the titles getting a 'rebirth' is Earth-2. Also today, Geoff Johns elaborated more on DC's mission statement with Rebirth, with an emphasis on getting 'back to basics' with what makes the DC Universe what it is and its characters who they are. Similar to how the Green Lantern and Flash Rebirths were handled pre-Flashpoint, we can expect some sort of revival of old concepts while still telling new and modern stories with DC characters. Johns also made a point of emphasising how valuable every DC character is to both the DC Universe and to every fan who's been fortunate to get to know them. He does want to find a place for each of them moving forward.

Wednesday, 17 February 2016

When the pre-Crisis Helena Wayne embarked on her first case as the Huntress, it was to catch her mother's killer when she was only 19 years old. As stated in the previous post, prior to her mother's tragic death at the hands of a former henchman from her Catwoman days, Helena had no interest in taking over the family business. Once she got a taste of the superhero lifestyle, however, it became her passion. More than she was driven by a strong desire for vengeance, she was more driven by a desire to uphold her father's legacy and a strong desire to help others.

Tuesday, 16 February 2016

The character evolution of Helena Wayne pre-Crisis was an interesting one. How she changed from the time she made her debut in the late 1970s to the time Crisis on Infinite Earths rebooted the DC Universe in the mid-1980s reflected a rapidly changing comics culture. The first time we met Helena Wayne in the pages of All-Star Comics #69 and DC Super-Stars #17, we were introduced to a smart, confident, and outgoing young woman who persevered in every aspect of her life. She was just as passionate about justice in her Helena Wayne persona as she was as the Huntress.

Monday, 15 February 2016

In addition to developing the origin story for the character, it was natural that a costume design had to accompany the character. In 1977, the character's co-creators wanted her to have a costume that was an amalgamation of the Batman and Catwoman costumes. Since Selina Kyle originally had a purple and green colour scheme for her Catwoman costume, purple became the Huntress' signature colour. Her boots, gloves, and mask were all a dark purple hue, while the main torso piece itself comprised of both light and dark shades of purple.

Sunday, 14 February 2016

When Helena Wayne was first conceived in 1977, the idea was to originally have an Earth-2 Batgirl as a member of the Justice Society to relieve Power Girl of her status of being the only female member of the team. According to Huntress co-creator Paul Levitz, the original Batgirl (presumably Bette Kane) didn't prove to be too interesting as a character, and a soft rebooting of her character would not have resulted in stronger story potential. The idea was ultimately scrapped until artist Joe Staton insisted on adding another woman to the team. After much conceptualising between Paul Levitz, Joe Staton, and Bob Layton, the idea of adding a Batwoman to the team evolved into the idea of the Huntress as the daughter of the Golden Age Batman and Catwoman.

One of the things you get accustomed to as a fan of the 'Big Two' publishers is that decades-old characters get subjected to change over a period of time. Some of the changes are progressive, and others regressive depending on the people in charge at the two companies at any given time.

One way that DC Comics stands out from Marvel is their tendency to do hard reboots of their universe as a way of streamlining continuity whenever it gets written out of control. The first DC reboot took place in 1955 when the company replaced their older Golden Age characters with brand new characters, effectively kickstarting the Silver Age of comics. The Green Lantern went from being Alan Scott to Hal Jordan, the Flash went from being Jay Garrick to Barry Allen, but the original trinity of Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman remained intact with slightly altered histories. The heroes of the Justice Society were similarly replaced with newer characters, leading to the formation of the Justice League.

Summary: In the new technologically advanced city of Amazonia, Kendra Muñoz-Saunders watches as the new Amazonian queen, Fury, trains the new Amazons in the ways of combat in preparation for impending war. Kendra asks Fury if she plans to start a war and Fury answers that she doesn't, but would like to end it should one arise. Fury then asks Kendra why she's always alone and Kendra responds that she prefers solitude to having people stare at her for her giant wings. Fury sympathises, but Kendra has questions of her own: why is her city hidden from everyone else? Fury responds that it is due to the Amazons' status of being feared and not wanting to subject them to the same fear and corruption that is destroying the other colonial cities. Kendra believes that they must all work together to create a more unified society, but Fury doesn't believe neither the Green Lantern nor the World Army has what it takes to lead. She believes that the survivors of Earth-2 need the Amazons to guide them, given their culture is rooted in wisdom and have experience in governance. Kendra then asks what happened to the survivors of her ship. Fury says that they all died and the new Amazons took their place. Exactly what this means isn't entirely clear.

Summary: Continuing her path to self discovery, young Princess Diana divides her activities between her duties on Themyscira and her apprenticeship under the immortal warrior Alcippe. The immortal warrior herself is not fond of Diana at first--with the young girl symbolising the lowest points of her Queen's life that once led to the fall of the Amazons--but over time acquires respect for her young apprentice.

Despite a growing bond between a mentor and her apprentice, there is, however, a plaguing darkness brewing from within the outside world that is enveloping the island of Themyscira. The darkness is not only corrupting the outside world, but it is also destroying the island of Themyscira from within. As the darkness consumes all that is dear to Princess Diana, she faces new challenges as she must somehow maintain composure while she copes with the loss of her mentor, her aunts' plot to betray her own sister and usurp her place on the throne, as well as protect the first man to arrive on Themyscira in centuries...a mysterious man called Steve Trevor.

EARTH-2 SOCIETY #9
Written by DAN ABNETT
Art by JORGE JIMÉNEZ
Cover by JORGE JIMÉNEZ
The Mist rises in New Gotham as Batman takes on this strange new foe! And Hawkgirl finds herself outnumbered as she confronts Fury and the new Amazons.FEBRUARY 10 | RATED T | $2.99 | PRINT | DIGITAL

Tuesday, 9 February 2016

THE LEGEND OF WONDER WOMAN #2
Written by RENAE DE LIZ
Art by RENAE DE LIZ and RAY DILLON
Cover by RENAE DE LIZ
On sale FEBRUARY 10 • 40 pg, FC, 2 of 9, $3.99 US • RATED T • DIGITAL FIRST
As their training sessions grow more intense, Alcippe teaches Diana about life as well as battle while the island they both love continues its fall. When the festival of Anthesteria dawns, so too does the possibility of an Amazonian revolt against Queen Hippolyta!

Summary: Picking up where the last issue left off, Hector Hall, Lyta Trevor, Norda Cantrell, and Albert Rothstein depart with bitter feelings of rejection from the Justice Society. They especially resent being told they lacked the level of experience the team needs to handle the kinds of threats they regularly deal with, noting that they can only obtain it by actually working alongside them. The group is joined by Jennie-Lynn Hayden and her brother Todd Rice who arrived at the JSA's doorstep to find out if Alan Scott (the Green Lantern) was really their father.

Tuesday, 2 February 2016

I've had several people tweet me about this today, so I guess I might as well talk about it. As is par for the course, Bleeding Cool loves rumours. Sometimes they're right, sometimes they're sort of right, and other times rumours are just rumours. With DC recently revealing their Rebirth initiative for this year, naturally, Bleeding Cool has been pursuing rumours like little kids on an Easter egg hunt. One of the ones they revealed today was a revival of the Justice Society of America title with the following description:

Currently in the New 52, there was no Justice Society in the forties fighting in World War II. The analogous team fought on Earth 2 instead. But now, not only will this active team of superheroes be revealed, along with an explanation as to why no one remembers them, but they will be brought forward, young, to the present days, fishes out of water, fighting alongside the Justice League of America. Their presence may also tie into the changing realities that the member of Titans Hunt are experiencing, remembering memories of each other that never were…